Letters / Hang on a minute
Congratulations to Alistair Carmichael, officers and councillors of the SIC for securing the £10 million to reduce the impact of the housing debt. Slaps on the back all round.
As Alistair says: “It has ultimately been resolved because there has been a political commitment within the coalition government to recognise Shetland’s contribution to the national economy and see us treated fairly.”
But hang on a minute. What does it actually mean?
First of all, it’s paid over two years, starting sometime in 2014, so there’s no immediate benefit.
Secondly, it’s dependent on Scotland chipping in £10 million, and we now learn that the Scottish lot don’t want to play – they think they’ve given us enough already (despite holding on to money sent from Westminster and intended for us). So that could scupper the whole plan.
Thirdly, it still leaves us with £20 million to find; £10 million from our oil reserves and £10 million from outside borrowing.
Putting aside the amounts for a minute, it must be better to either take from reserves OR borrow from outside. From a financial perspective it must be better to go one way or the other, but it might be politically more palatable for the public if it is split in two. Which is it?
Fourthly, the original debt was £60 million and we’ve already paid £20 million.
The debt was incurred so that the UK government could take advantage of Shetland’s oil reserves. Why they didn’t just pay up front is beyond me.
So, let’s look at this in perspective. We have already paid £20 million. We now lose £10 million from our already stretched reserves and put ourselves in hock for another £10 million. That’s £40 million.
Then, if we’re lucky, fingers and toes crossed and a fair wind, we might possibly get £5 million from the UK and £5million from Scotland in 2014 and the same in 2015 as long as they don’t fall out over it – which they already are.
The coming referendum will offer both sides the opportunity to blame the other for failure to come up with the money, while both rub their hands in glee.
However you look at it, it doesn’t look like a very good deal.
Meanwhile, as Alistair says, we are contributing to the national economy. What he omits to mention is the amount we contribute: a mere £86 million per year according to SIC figures. That’s the amount left after we pay our taxes and get back any breadcrumbs via grants and subsidies.
We might start to ask what we are getting for it. Silly me – of course, we need to help pay for illegal wars, bailing out reckless banks, paying MPs’ expenses and pouring money into the black corrupt hole labelled EU.
Alistair Carmichael, our councillors and SIC officials have worked out with the UK government a complicated way to get round the legislation so we can be paid comparatively piddling amounts and try to kid us we’re getting a good deal, while landing the bulk (or more likely the whole) of the debt on us.
Why couldn’t the UK government simply pay it off? They take over £10 billion in taxes every year on oil from Shetland waters and the housing debt was incurred so they could do that. The whole of the housing debt amounts to a mere 0.04% of that amount. What is the problem?
Now, here’s the interesting bit. Who is the debt payable to? Turns out it’s payable to the SIC. One department is in debt to another. Lewis Carroll could have written a best-selling sequel to Alice in Wonderland with this material.
Come on Shetland – we need to wake up to the fact that neither Scotland nor the UK regard us as anything more than an inexhaustible cash cow.
Scotland would like to see our reserve fund reduced to zero and both want our oil and our taxes. Neither can afford for us to know our true power and must convince us that we need them for whatever reason. Instead of answering Yes or No to Scottish independence, we should be asking Why?
Why do we need to interfere in their affairs, any more than they need to interfere in ours? Look carefully – they need us more than we need them.
Before those howls of protest that “we’re part of Scotland/UK, we have to do what they say”, I would just ask one question. When required in court to produce evidence that Shetland is part of Scotland, all the Crown could come up with was a magazine article by our archivist, Brian Smith.
Do you have any better proof, or do you prefer to live by The Word of Brian?
Stuart Hill
Ocraquoy
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